Close to three months has already passed, and just a few hours ago my brother left for Norway and Christmas celebrations with family and friends. It's been a few fantastic months together, visiting six very different and spectacular countries. I guess we'll just have to do it all over again one day!!!

If you have followed my blog, you may have read something like "I have promised myself that I will go home to Norway for a few weeks (or days) for Christmas in order to see family and friends". You may even have read that I had bought myself a ticket on the same flight as my brother. Well all that has changed once again. I cancelled my flight ticket to Norway partly because it was very expensive, but mainly because KLM contacted me and told me to fax them a copy of my passport as well as tons of other documents. Sometimes being lazy, and also since I thought that buying something online was supposed to be easy, I couldn't really be bothered. So I cancelled the whole deal (luckily it didn't require me to send a fax). And as Christmas quickly grew closer, and I couldn't really find any cheap Christmas deals (what's going on Papá Noel?), I am still down here. Well to be honest, I could have easily made it home, but I knew I would also have to go to Spain in mid-January for a week to celebrate my mother's 60th birthday with her and my father. So although I would have really liked to go home to Norway to see family and friends for Christmas, I figured screw -30 Celsius and tons of snow once again. Last Christmas I was in Bocas del Toro in Panama, and the year before skiing around Anchorage, Alaska (so as you can see, it's not like I hate snow and cold weather, as long as it is in small portions). So I'll stay down in Latin America for Christmas, and I promise I'll really try to make it next year. Fourth time lucky!!! Instead I'll fly from Buenos Aires to Barcelona in Spain on January 15th where I'll meet my parents at the airport. It's true, I promise, I will leave, I have even paid for the flight ticket. There's no way back!!!

After Punta del Este my brother and I went back to Buenos Aires for some sightseeing, gourmet food, parties (remember Opera Bay???) as well as tons of Christmas shopping (I hope you enjoyed the Mendoza wine Mum!). We also managed to take one last look at Boca Juniors. Last Sunday it was the final in Copa Nissan Sudamericana. Boca Juniors versus Pumas from Mexico. It's played over two matches, and after a draw in Mexico a few weeks ago, it was a very open and special night indeed. The game started late at night, and again it was of course sold out. So being well-accustomed to the Boca black market, my brother and I walked (walked my friends, no taxi here!!!) to the stadium hoping to find one our friends from last Sunday. Being late at night and also a tad bit crazier than last time, it was harder to find tickets this time. But we managed to find a loco Argentinian with two spare tickets. The seats weren't as good as last time (close though) and a bit pricier. But we're talking the final in Copa Nissan Sudamericana here. Again the guy promised to follow us to the turnstiles at the other end of the stadium (he seemed to know everyone, so we just walked past all queues and took shortcuts I bet nobody knows about). We even walked past Maradona, when he, his daughter and a few friends arrived in a Mini Cooper (I wanted to confront him about "mano de Dios", but decided to skip it as I guess he is as close as you get to God down here). And when we got inside La Bombonera (the Chocolate Box, the stadium looks like one from above) it was about as insane as it could get. So you were right Forrest, you never know what you're gonna get, but at least expect it to be crazy if you ever go see Boca Juniors at La Bombonera. We didn't bother to look for our seats, as there was just too many people around. Surely they had packed in the maximum capacity of 60.000. We found a good spot however, and over the next three hours or so enjoyed a true spectacle. I have been to many football matches in Premier League in England before, and that's usually a fantastic experience. But to be honest, what I have seen over there doesn't even come close to this final. After full time it was still a draw, so the decision came on penalties. After five penalties each, it was still a draw. Pumas were first up and missed their sixth. And when the sixth Boca player walked over to the penalty mark, Pato (the Duck), the Boca keeper, just told him to sod off. "I'll take it!!!" I am absolutely sure it wasn't planned and that the coach probably didn't give his nod, so what would have happened if "the Duck" had missed the penalty I don't know. Anyway, of course he scored a spectacular penalty and everyone went just..."Yo soy de Boca señor..."

By the way, too bad I didn't bring my camera this time :-(

Merry Christmas everyone (who celebrates it that is, if not I guess you could just celebrate Boca's two titles in one week)!!!